Horsehead and Flame Nebula reworked using Starnet++

I followed a lecture on postprocessing of deepsky images by Astronomy club Altair (Sint-Truiden). The learning I took away was to remove the stars and edit both the nebula and star image seperate. Once completed combine both images again.

I used starnet++ to remove the stars and editing was done using CS4 and DeNoise AI. The result is better as my stars aren't that big any more compared with the nebula.

Sol'Ex and Doppler Image of the Sun

Finaly some sun! It was only in the morning and with high clouds. I could record a couple scan using my Sol'Ex pro. Setting is not yet 100% due to my new camera. In order to get this back to 100% I need more "sun" time.

The image taken was during an outburst C2.9 in AR3928 with huge prominences. 

Setting: Sol'Ex Pro with TLAPO60/360 and Herschel Wedge

Camera  ASI678MM 

Software: SharpCap 4, Inti, JSolex

I managed to get the X/Y as the tilt close to 1.

Lecture Prof. Frank Verstraete and Céline Broeckaert

Selfie with Prof Frank Verstraete and writer Céline Broeckaert

Together with Helios members Walter and Henk, I attented a lecture by Prof Frank Verstraete and writer Céline Broeckaert. The title of the lecture was the same one as the title of their book "Waarom niemand kwantum begrijpt en iedereen er toch iets over moet weten" (Why No One Understands Quantum and Yet Everyone Needs to Know Something About It). 

The lecture gives an overview of quantum physics by talking about Planck, Einstein, Heisenberg, Schrodinger, de Broglie, Feynman, ... and for me a new name Emmy Noether (see link to wikipedia)

Beside the famous names following concepts were talked: 

• wave-particle duality
• superposition
• quantum entanglement
• quantum uncertainty
• quantum interference
• qauntum spin
• quantum computing
• and sysmmetry

As a conclusion, a very well presented lecture with a brief historical overview and good real life examples of quantum physics. After the lecture, by a drink, we kept on discussing, even with the professor.

Bibliography

Frank Verstraete (51) studied civil engineering at KU Leuven and later physics at Ghent University. After a PhD in Leuven, he moved to the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Munich and Caltech in California. In 2006, he became a professor at the University of Vienna. He built up his own research group at Ghent University. Since 2022, he has been the Leigh Trapnell Chair of Quantum Physics at the University of Cambridge. Verstraete gained fame with the development of a language that allows many-particle problems in quantum physics to be described. For this work, he received the Francqui Prize in 2018, also known as the Belgian Nobel Prize. Céline Broeckaert (43) studied theatre directing at the Ritcs and language and literature at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and in Bologna. She taught Dutch to non-native speakers and worked for many years at Theater Antigone and Muziektheater LOD. Since 2015 she has been an impact producer for documentaries. 

Sun in H-alpha, H-beta and CaIIK

Setting of images in H-Alpha, H-Beta (with some smal flares), CaIIK

TS TLAPO60/360, Sol'Ex Pro, ASI678MM on EQ6

Herschel Wedge

SSD Disk

Software: SharpCap, Inti, JSolex, CS4

Sun in H-Beta

The Sun imaged in H-beta using my Sol'Ex and new ASI678MM camera.

Jupiter - One week before Opposition

First time this year that I captured Jupiter. Temperature was 1°C and declining.

Setting:

TAL 200K @ f/23 with Barlowx2, ADC and IR/UV cut

ASI224MC camera

Software : SharpCap, AstroSurface and CS4

Sol'Ex with new ASI678MM

My last observation of the Sun dated from September 21. Today I had a day off and luckely with some good weather and a lot of sun. Unfortunatenly some high clouds made it unpossible to image the sun in the afternoon. 

Sunshine on this Black Friday November 29, 2024

To image the Sun I used my classic set up with TS TLAPO60/360 with Sol'Ex Pro and my new ASI678MM camera. This camera has 2micron pixels, much smaller then my 2,9 micron pixel 290MM camera. Both telescope and Sol'Ex are mounted on my EQ8R.

Imaging was done in H-alpha and H-beta and all H-alpha data was also send to Bass2000 as part of the Solap (ProAM) program . 

My Image of Sol'Ex H-alpha on main Bass2000 portal

Setting:

- TS TLAPO60/360 with Sol'Ex Pro and ASI678MM

- Herschel Wedge

- Software SharpCap, Inti and CS4

- Pro-AM FileZila Client